Traffic supervisor



` R. J. wENsLEY n AL Aug TRAFFIC SUPERVISOR Re n o o Original Filed JulyA 3. 1926 3l g;- 22 25 27 29 l? 23 d? f i. /2

7 PhOfO-e/ecff/b ce// 3 wlTN'EssEs: INVENTORS 7 .i Rog/J. Wens/eg and l//ad/'m/fr` Z wary/rin. I

' L: 7 ATTORNEY Ramd Aug. 9,1932

.UNITED` STATES PATENT oFFlcE- A l BOY J. WENSLEY, F SOUTH ORANGE AN D1 VLADIMIB K. ZWOBYKIN, OF mmm NEW JERSEY, .ASSIGNOIB'Sv T0 WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC OOHPANY, A CORPORATION Ol' PENNSYLVANIA AND m UFACTURHG TRAFFIO SUPERVISOR Original lo. 1,743,175, dated January 14, 1930, Serial No. 120,488, iiled July 8, 1928. Application for reissue illed January 18,

Our invention relates to electrical systems and more particularly to counting systems for supervising trall'lc.

An object of our invention is to rovide photo-electric means for counting evices.

Another object of our invention is to provide means for counting the number of cars which pass by any oint.

Another object o our invention is to provide means for indicating the number of cars in a tunnel ata'ny one time.

There are other objects of oury invention which, together with the foregoing, will appear in the specification which follows.

In practicing our invention, we provide a photo-electric cell exposed to a source of light so arranged that a countin vdevice is operated proportional to the num er of devilcles which pass before the photo-electric ce The .single figure of the accomfpanying drawing is a diagrammatic view o our invention. i

The tunnel 1 is provided with a electric cell 2 at its' entrance and a photoelectric cell 3 at its exit point. The hotoelectric cell 2 is exposed to a sourceo light 4 and the photo-electric cell 3 is exposed to a source of light 5. The reiiectors 6 and 7 concentrate these beams of light upon the respective cell. y

A relay 8 is connected by the conductors 9 and 10 to the photo-electric cell 2 and operates the pawl and ratchet 12 and -13 through its amature 11.l Similarly the relay 14 is electrically connected, by means of conductors 15 and 16, to the photo-electric cell 3 and operates the pawl and ,ratchet 18 and 19 through its armature 17. e

A shaft 20 connects the ratchet 13 with a gear member 21 which meshes with a gear wheel'22. The ratchet wheel 19 is connected, by means of a shaft 23, to the gear wheel 24 which meshes with the gear wheel 25. The

gear wheels 21,22, 24 and 25 are in a differential arrangement.

As a device, such as the automobile 26, enters the 4tunnel the light 4 to which the photoelectric cell 2 is ex osed, is cut oil' from the cell'. As a result, value of current in the photo- 1933. Serial 'Nm 586,446.

conductors 9 and 10 is reduced' to la small value, it being understood, of course, that the photo-electric cell varies the amount of electricity in the circuit in proportion to the amount of light to which itis ex osed.

By reason of the dro of current 1n the line, the relay 8 will'be eenergized and the spring 27 will pull back its armature and thorughit operate the pawl 12 to move the ratchet wheel 13 one step in a clockwise direction. As a result, the gear 21 will turn hoto-` automobile 26, passes out of the exit ofthe tunnel, Ait will cut of the light 5 fron the photo-electric cell 3. The current in the conductors 15 and 16 will be diminished as a result and the relay 14 will be deenergized. A spring 29 will thereupon operate the armature 17 and through it the pawl 18, to turn the ratchet 19 one step in a counter-clockwise l direction.

This will turn the gear wheel 24 in a counlter-clockwise direction to turn the indicator 28 to the left one ste Movement of the indicator 28 to the rig t thus counts up thel number of cars which are in the tunnel, while the movement to the left subtracts as the cars leave the tunnel. Thelposition of the indicator.28 therefore at any time will indicate the numberof cars that are in the tunnel. The gear ratios are so designed that a unit movement of gear 21 rotates the indicator the same an le as a unit movement of gear 24. A fan 30 1s shown electrically connected to a contact 31 and is automatically started into operation in order to maintain the correct proportion of fresh air in the' tunnel and shows a certain predetermined number of cars are in the tunnel.

It is understood, of course, that thephotouiv 9 controlled by sai electric cells with individual dierential gear arrangements can be placed throughout the tube in order to indicate the number of cars at anyonepoint in the tunnel lat any time. This would enablethe detection of a jam caused by the breakdown of a-car or for any other reason, at any point in the tunnel.

Although We have disclosed our invention .as applied to a particular use, it is understood, of course, that it has many other and more varied uses and we do not intend to limit ourselves to the above specific application. s

We claim as our invention:

1. In a system for controlling the ventilation of a tunnel traversed by motor vehicles, in combination, a motor-driven fan for said tunnel, a plurality of vehicle-actuated means located at spaced oints in the tunnel, means plurality of vehicle-actuated means for effecting energization of the fan motor when the number of vehicles betial device associatedv with said two means for determining the number of vehicles located between the two points, and means including an electric circuit connected to said fanmotor and actuated by saiddiiferential device for energizing said motor when the number of vehicles between said points reaches-a predetermined number.

3. In a system for controlling the ventilation of a tunnel traversed by motor vehicles; in combination, a ventilating means for said tunnel, and means for controlling the energization of said ventilating means directly in accordance with the number of vehicles in said tunnel, said energization-controlling means embodying a plurality of light-sensitive cells and cooperating light sources located at spaced oints in said tunnel, a pluralratchet-and-di erential-gear mechanism controlled by the plurality of light-sensitiveA cells, and electrical contact devices connected to a circuit including said'ventilating` means' and caused to en age each other when the. number of vehicles etween said spaced points in the tunnel exceeds a predetermined number.

1 4. In a system for operatin a device in re-`YI spense to the density of tra c along a lane,-

said device involving an electrical `circuit and a c ircuit closing device whichA is normally maintained in open position, the combination of a plurality of vehicle actuable means located at spaced points alon said lane, means controlled by one of sai vehicle actuable means for gradually closin said circuit closing device in response to 51e passage of vehicles thereby, means controlled by another of said vehicle actuable means for applying a gradual opening movement'to said circuit closing device in response to the passage-of vehicles thereby, said circuit closin device closing said circuit to operate sai device when the number of vehicles passing one of said vehicle actuable means exceeds the number of vehicles passing the other of said vehicle actuable means by a predetermined number.

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto subscribed our names. l

ROY J. WENSLEY. VLADIMIR K. ZW ORYKIN.

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